


Home

by Nishinoya4Yuu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cussing, Gen, Mentioned Azumane Asahi, Mentioned Kiyoko Shimizu, Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke are Bros, Nishinoya's home life sucks, Tanaka Ryuunosuke is a Good Friend, Tanaka asks uncomfortable questions, Tanaka will never abandon his team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 21:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11586834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nishinoya4Yuu/pseuds/Nishinoya4Yuu
Summary: Nishinoya Yuu has been suspended from school for a week, and it gets even worse when he's suspended from club activities for a month. But the worst part is it's all his fault.It really sucks to be in this all alone. Tanaka Ryuunosuke is determined to remind him he isn't.





	Home

"Fuck!" Noya yelled as he slammed the door behind him. Just for good measure, he kicked it once and then ran his palms down his face and sighed. Then he realized he really wasn't finished with that door yet so he kicked it again. And again, adding more and more fury behind each kick. Go big or go home, right? 

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK DAMN IT! FUCK!" he screamed until his voice went hoarse. Finally he staggered and collapsed in a heap in front of the door, among the shoes and slippers. He leaned back, turned his eyes to the ceiling, and took a deep breath. 

"What the hell have you done to yourself now, Yuu?" he exhaled. He closed his eyes and slowly focused on his breathing, trying to make his heartbeat calm down.

Nishinoya Yuu wasn't a bad kid. He just got too fired up sometimes. Today had been one of those days. The Ace of the Karasuno High School Boys Volleyball Club had decided he was a failure. He wouldn't play anymore after he'd been soundly shut out from scoring in their last match. Nishinoya, of course, knew this was bullshit. The real reason they lost was because he wasn't a good enough libero. If he'd been better at saving blocked spikes then they would never have had this problem in the first place. So it just plain pissed him off that Azumane Asahi, the so called 'Ace' was blaming himself for what was clearly Nishinoya's fault.

What pissed him off even more was that Asahi-san had just stopped trying near the end of the game. He completely gave up after Noya had busted his ass to try to keep the ball connected, keep the game going, keep them from losing. He'd put his fucking heart and soul into that game and their “Ace” had completely abandoned them. Friends don't fucking do that. So not only was it Noya's fault for not being good enough, it made it even worse that his teammate didn't trust him to save the ball if his spike was blocked. So he fucking gave up. Who the fuck even does that? 

Azumane Asahi, apparently. Because he stopped showing up to practice to. Which you know, was a real vote of confidence in their liberos ability, right? So Noya confronted him about it, screaming in the halls of the school and causing a huge scene. He was too damn angry for his own good and he let it all happen right in front of the Vice Principal. So of course he'd been swiftly suspended from school. No class for a week, and even worse than that, he wasn't allowed to take part in club activities for a month. A fucking month!

So now the word "delinquent" was being thrown around in regards to him. And, sure, he liked his cool image. But a delinquent he has never been. He doesn't skip class, even if he does nod off from time to time. He certainly never hurt anybody. It was a black mark on his record that he just knew was going to come to bite him in the ass someday. 

With all this shit racing through his mind Nishinoya nodded off for a while, sitting there alone, in the genkan. It was already dark outside by the time he was startled awake by the growling of his stomach. He sighed and then took off his shoes, pulled on his slippers and then headed down the hall into the kitchen. 

He whistled to himself to cut the silence as he measured rice into the rice cooker and hit the cook button. Then he shuffled over to the refrigerator and opened it. His eyes focused on the emptiness of it and he sighed, "No surprise there," as he closed the door again and contented himself with the fact that he was only having plain rice for dinner tonight. 

He wandered out of the kitchen and yelled through the house, "TADAIMA!" just to hear no response. He knew there wouldn't be a response, of course. There couldn't be because the house was empty except for him. But it was this strange ritual he'd started over the years of being home alone all the time. Somehow the act of screaming to the house that he was home calmed him down. Because if he thought too much about his situation at home, he'd get angry. 

And why shouldn't he? His mother had died when he was 9. It was just him and his father now. Wherever he was at. Not that it mattered. Every month an envelope with money showed up and Yuu took care of everything himself. He had for years now. He was just thankful the money kept showing up and had stopped asking questions a long time ago. 

The silence unnerved him though. It had been about 3 years since he'd taken up the habit of carrying on conversations with himself just to block out the silence. He always spoke loudly to compensate. If you're loud enough you can tune out the emptiness all around you. Yuu had learned that a long time ago. 

He went back to the front door and grabbed his red school bag and headed up the stairs. He took them slowly and trailed his bag up the steps behind him. In the hallway his foot connected with his bedroom door as he kicked it open and hoisted the bag up into the air to fling it across the room unto his bed.

“Well, now what, Yuu?” He asked loudly as he sprawled out on his bed, the blankets swallowing him due to the force. “You know, it's not like you have to do any of that homework anytime soon. You've got a whole week,” He responded to his own question. 

He laced his fingers behind his head, stretched out and sighed, “Oh, good. A whole week all to myself.” The sarcasm dripped off his voice. 

“Yeah, well, what can you do?” he asked back. He considered the question for a while before the answer suddenly came to him. 

Yuu sat bolt upright in his bed and with a huge smile, he proclaimed, “THAT'S IT! That's what I should do! I'll practice block follow!” 

He jumped up off his bed and grabbed the volleyball off his desk. “Fuck yes! Tomorrow I'll go see if I can find anybody to practice with.” He tossed the ball high onto his bedroom wall and dove to save it. He hit it with his forearm a bit wrong and he knew it would bruise later, but who cares?

Jumping up he yelled“Wooooooooo. BRING IT!” as he threw the ball at the wall again and this time had to move his head back fast to avoid taking it to the face. 

A faint melody came from downstairs as the rice cooker signaled it had finished cooking. Nishinoya ran out of his room and tore down the stairs. He burst into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and filled it to overflowing with rice. He plopped down at the table and yelled, “ITADAKIMASU!” and dug in. (He might live alone, but he wasn't a savage.)

In no time his bowl was empty and his stomach was full. He stood up, moving considerably slower now and quickly washed up his dishes. He sighed as he noted that his canister of rice was nearly empty. He couldn't expect more money for about a week, if at all. It was always a little sketchy as to if the money from his father would magically appear in the mail or not. He walked to the shelf and pulled down a jar. He dug through it and pulled out the money he had left. 1,591 yen. Ouch. 

“Well, shit...” he said as he realized he wouldn't be eating much the next week unless he could catch dinner at the Tanaka's every night or something. He figured it'd be fine though. The Tanaka's knew his situation and they were more of a family to him than his real family ever had been. He knew they'd feed him for as long as he needed. Hell, he knew they'd actually feed him, shelter him and clothe him if he needed it. It was never a question with them. They'd just accepted him with open arms. But still, Noya hated relying on them like that. He wasn't a child; he could take care of himself.

He put the jar back on the shelf quietly and then headed back up to his bedroom. The house was way too large for just him but because his parents had owned the house outright it was cheaper for him to live there than to move to a small apartment for himself. Which really kind of sucked because the upkeep and yard work added a lot to his plate. But that's life, he supposed. 

He threw himself down on his bed and tried to sleep but he couldn't shut his mind off. He was too busy worrying over his situation. He always did that when he was lonely. And now that he'd cooled off it really started to set in how royally fucked he was. He thought he might have a future on some pro team or maybe even the National team, but that didn't seem likely anymore.

This suspension was really going to haunt him, he just knew it. Colleges and professional teams weren't likely to look kindly on that information and he couldn't help but worry if he'd screwed up all his chances with volleyball for his future. 

The gears in his head turned slowly as he tried to work through the different scenarios. One thing was sure, he couldn't have the strongest spiker on their team quit. And it really couldn't come down to losing a team member because he wasn't a good enough libero. That would hurt his chances so much. He needed to figure out a plan of attack if Asahi didn't come back to the team on his own. The sad and selfish truth was he needed the best teammates Karasuno could give him if he had any chance at a future. 

He threw his arm over his face and mumbled, “shit.” But there was nothing to do about it, and he knew that. He knew stressing over it wasn't the answer, but that was so hard to do. He took a few deep breaths and willed his mind to stop racing. It was so hard for him to fall asleep in an empty house, his mind always got the better of him.

~~

“Hey, Nee-san, I'm gonna ask Noya over for dinner, k?” Tanaka Ryuunosuke hollered over to his sister as he walked into their house after a long day of lessons and volleyball practice. 

“Yuu?! Sure! I'm making curry tonight, I'll make it sweet since he's coming over,” Tanaka Saeko called from the living room. 

Ryuu smiled and then fumbled with pulling his phone out of his pocket in his rush to text his friend. Nishinoya had been suspended for the whole week and so Ryuu hadn't seen his friend in what felt like ages. His fingers quickly tapped out the message and hit send. 

It was hardly a second later when his phone beeped with an incoming message from “NOYA!!!-san!” saying “YES!!!!  
( 0 v 0 )/” Ryuu's grin widened as he bolted up the stairs to his bedroom to pick up some of his dirty clothes and food wrappers that were laying on the floor. 

~~

Every day was just a repeat of the last. Noya would wake up and then go find somebody to practice volleyball with. He'd come home and then waste time. He'd eat whatever he could scrounge up and then finally fall asleep at night, wake up and do it all over again. It was lonely. It was monotonous. It was awful. 

That's why when Tanaka texted him on the last day of the school week he couldn't remember ever being happier. 

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : come over for food? nee-san said ok

Me: YES!!!! ( 0 v 0 )/ 

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : cool

Me: time?

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : whenever

Me: omw!!

Nishinoya closed his cell phone with a loud clack and tossed it into his bag. He couldn't help the smile that spread over his whole face. He tossed some spare clothes into his bag in case he ended up spending the night, slung his bag over his shoulder and ran downstairs. 

He was in such a hurry he practically tripped into his shoes on his way out the door. It was a nice evening, relatively warm for April and the sun was painting the sky a beautiful orange. 

Noya set off down the hill in long strides. The Tanaka's didn't live terribly far away, but it was still a good 15 minute walk, and he wasn't sure why, but his feet seemed to feel the need to get him there in record time. By the time he rounded the corner onto Ryuu's street he was breathing a bit heavy. He wasn't even in a hurry, it just happened. 

He ran up to the sliding door on the side of the house and quickly gave 3 loud knocks to signal it was him. He slid open the door and yelled out, “Tadaima!” He closed the door behind him and slipped his shoes off and then slid into his slippers that lived at the Tanaka's. 

“Okaeri!” Ryuu's voice called from the kitchen. Nishinoya hung his bag on the peg near the door and took a deep breath. The house smelled like Nee-san's curry. It felt warm and inviting and there was something so calming about the fact that neither Ryuu nor Nee-san actually left the kitchen to come greet him. There was no need, he wasn't really a guest, after all. 

He walked down the hall and joined them in the kitchen. “Nee-san!!” He enthused in greeting upon seeing Saeko. He threw his arms up and ran to hug her.

Saeko stood at the stove siring a pan full of simmering curry. Without even looking over she held out her other arm and it hit Noya's chest as he came flying towards her with arms spread wide. “Hey, Yuu. Good to see you too,” she let out a loud laugh as she expertly deflected Noya. 

He wasn't bothered though as he turned to the table and pulled out a chair and plopped down across from Ryuu. “Ryuu!! Long time no see! How you been?” Noya questioned as he leaned back in his chair and it teetered on the back legs. 

Ryuu looked up from the game on his phone and his face lit up, “Good, Noya-san! Practice has been a total bore without you though.” Ryuu put down his phone and directed his full attention to his friend. “Everybody's doing good, though.” 

Noya fixed his bright amber eyes on Ryuu and asked, “So everybody's keeping Asahi in line then?” His gaze was intense and a stark contrast to the light his face had shown just a few moments ago when greeting the Tanaka's. 

Ryuu's scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and mumbled, “Awww, shit.” He let out a deep sigh and then looked Noya in the eye and spilled the facts. “Asahi hasn't come back, man. He's gone. I'm...look, Noya-san. Nobody blames you, alright?” 

Noya's eyes burned and his brow furrowed in anger. He lashed out, “Nobody blames me?! What the fuck does that mean, Ryuu??! You all know it was my fault, how the hell can you say that? Why didn't you guys fucking drag him back there if you had to??!! That big wuss needs to know you can't just fucking run away from every little thing that doesn't go your way!” He suddenly jumped to his feet and slammed his hands down on the table. He leaned forward over the table and close to his friends face, “Ryuu!! Do you hear me??!! Bring him back!!” 

Ryuu leaned back away from his screaming friend. His eyes were wide with shock but he just nodded, dumbly, his mouth hanging open. That's when Saeko came to the rescue. She firmly put her hand on Nishinoya's shoulder and said clearly, “Whoa, calm down there, Killer. Come on, grubs done.” She tilted her head in the direction of the stove. 

It was always casual and self serve at the Tanaka household, but that wasn't a bad thing. It was honestly Noya's favorite place to eat and he felt pretty bad at the moment for yelling at Ryuu and making Saeko see him like that. As he piled his plate high with rice he whispered “Hey, Ryuu...” 

Ryuu was busy shoveling curry over his rice and just mumbled, “Yeah, Noya-san?” 

“Sorry.” 

Ryuu set down the ladle and looked at Noya in surprise. Then he started laughing. “Don't worry about it, Noya-san.” He kept laughing while Noya's face turned a few shades pinker. Noya just stood there clutching his plate of rice while his friend laughed at him. Without even saying anything else, Ryuu lifted the ladle back up and started heaping curry onto Noya's plate. He stopped laughing briefly, looked at Noya again and just sighed, “Weirdo.” 

Noya felt the smile tug at his lips again and he shook his head as he walked back to the table and sat down with Saeko and Ryuu. They all clapped their hands together and said, “Itadaikimasu,” in relative unison, and dug in. 

Noya hadn't realized how damn hungry he was. He shoveled the whole plate of food into his mouth so quickly he choked at one point and was quickly and wordlessly met with Ryuu's hand slapping his back and Nee-san pushing his glass of water closer to him. 

It was mostly silent, but it was comfortable. He'd almost forgotten how nice it was to sit down with other people and share a meal. The Tanaka house was always warm and inviting. So he continued to shovel his food into his mouth and just soak in the only kind of comfortable silence he knew in his life. 

Saeko's phone started buzzing where it was laying on the table and she quickly picked it up, “Oi! Saeko here.”She held the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she took her plate over to the sink and started washing it. Noya and Ryuu were treated to only Saeko's half of the conversation, but it didn't really interest them anyway. “Oh. My. God. She really said that?” Saeko let out a loud laugh as she finished her share of the dishes. She walked over to the table, phone still propped by hear ear. “No!! He didn't??!!” She quickly rubbed her hand on Ryuu's head and then moved on to Noya's. She ruffled his hair and then gave his head a pat as she walked out of the kitchen laughing into her phone. 

Nishinoya loved Saeko, so he would never complain about it, so he just sighed and ran his fingers through his hair to try to fix the mess she had made. Ryuu ate his last bite of food and then leaned back in his chair. He threw his hands behind his head and ventured a guess, “You spendin' the night?” 

Noya stood up from the table and grabbed both of their plates and took them to the sink where he started washing them. “If that's cool, yeah.” 

Ryuu jumped up and ran to the sink, “You don't have to do those, Noya-san!! I'll get it!!” He started to push Nishinoya out of the way to take over but Noya just pushed him back. And without warning they were suddenly pushing each other back and forth fighting over who's job it was to wash a few dishes. 

The pushing finally deteriorated into laughter and they compromised. Noya washed and let Ryuu dry them and put them away. As Ryuu dried the last plate he asked, “Hey, Noya-san. You're coming back right? To the team?”

Noya fixed his eyes on Ryuu and didn't waver, “Of course.” The intensity in his eyes scared Ryuu, but he was also in awe of it. 

Ryuu pulled a face and said “Yeah! We're fucking gonna beat those assholes at Dateko this year, for sure!” He raised the towel over his head and started spinning it in the air as he whooped and yelled “Take that, Fuckers!!” 

Their excitement died down as they finally made their way upstairs and into Ryuu's bedroom. Noya let himself in the room first and plopped down on the bed, stretching out. He groaned, “Damn. We forgot snacks.” 

Ryuu didn't even stop to say anything he just halted, did an about face and ran back down to the kitchen. Nishinoya was left alone in his bedroom and didn't realize he'd even closed his eyes until he heard a far away voice saying “Noya-san! Hey...” Noya's eyes fluttered open and he found Ryuu dropping some boxes of Pocky and bags of chips onto the table. 

Noya sat up and yawned, “Shit. Sorry, man.” He wasn't even sure why he fell asleep so quickly like that, it wasn't even like he was that tired. It was just so comfortable at the Tanaka's. 

Ryuu sat down cross legged at the table on the floor and Noya slid off the side of the bed and plopped down next to him. Noya yawned again and reached out for a box of Pocky. He lamely started chewing on the end of a stick.

“Hey, Noya-san?” Ryuu asked. 

“Hm?” The stick of Pocky bobbed up and down between his lips as he hummed his response. 

“You got somebody you like right now?” Ryuu grabbed the bag of chips and tore it open, letting the crinkling of the bag ease the edge of what could have been the start of an awkward conversation. 

Noya shoved the remainder of the Pocky stick into his mouth and swallowed. “Of course! How is that even a question!?” He excitedly grabbed another stick to snack on. 

Ryuu's eyes got big and as he munched on chips he burst out, “Really?!” 

Noya was wide awake now and slightly bouncing, “Dude! KIYOKO!! The Goddess who has graced the court of our gym with her beauty. She's perfect! Come on, man. You know that,” Noya trailed off at the end, sounding a little disappointed in his friend.

Ryuu back pedaled and held up his hands in his defense, “Oh, of course!! Kiyoko will always be our one true love!!” he fell silent for a moment as he lowered his hands and balled them up in his lap. “I just wondered if maybe there was somebody else also...” 

Noya cocked his eyebrow in confusion. “Huh? What gave you that idea?” 

Ryuu swallowed hard and then looked over at his friend. He locked eyes with him and quietly questioned, “Well....I thought maybe, you know....” 

Noya's face suddenly turned intense, “No. Ryuu. I don't know...what the hell, man?” His eyes were bright and focused and the sleepiness that was there just a few minutes before was all but gone. Nishinoya was always able to focus when it really mattered. 

Ryuu continued hesitantly, “You know....Asahi-san....” The blush spread over Tanaka's whole face as the weight of his words sunk in. He watched Noya's eyes to gauge his reaction. 

Noya looked confused but then scratched his head with one eyebrow raised, “I mean....huh? Of course I like Asahi-san, I look up to him. He is our Ace, after all.” 

Ryuu swallowed hard again, “Oh. I see. So you....you like guys then?” 

Nishinoya's eyes went wide as it finally clicked into place what Tanaka was asking him, “What?! No! I mean, I don't...It's not like that at all, Ryuu.” He suddenly stopped fumbling over his words and let out a warm laugh. “What the hell gave you that idea?” 

Ryuu was bright red now as he stuttered out, “I mean...it's just...you....he's so, you seem to....ah shit. I'm sorry, Noya-san.” 

Nishinoya was in full blow hysterics by now, “Ryuu? What the hell? You've gotta give me more than that, dude.” He was doubled over with laughter now.

Ryuu let out a nervous chuckle. He took a deep breath and then tried to wrap his head around the words he needed to say. “I mean, you seemed so...upset about him leaving. And then like, I don't know, just earlier you were ordering me to bring him back and it was just like. I don't know, it felt like there was some unresolved....sexual...tension....there or something....” 

Noya stopped laughing abruptly. “Huh? Wait....sexual tension, what the hell?” His large eyes were all questions as he assessed Ryuu. 

Ryuu back pedaled again, “No, I mean. Aww, shit. Never mind. It just seemed like maybe there was more there than everybody thought, that's all. Don't worry about it. Forget I said anything.” He squirmed as he felt Noya's eyes intensely staring at him. He felt like he was being slowly taken apart by them. Noya had the kind of gaze that could leave you feeling naked and vulnerable, it was so intense. 

Noya finally turned his gaze to his lap, “Ryuu it's not like that. Really.” He took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “It's just...it was my fault, you know. If I were a better libero it wouldn't have....we might not have....I mean. Shit. I screwed up so bad, Ryuu. I can't let the team feel like it was their fault when it wasn't. I'm the one who messed up. It kills me to think that our fucking Ace would be willing to quit over it. Like...I mean. Come on!! It's like he has absolutely no fucking faith in me at all!! That's....that hurts, alright?” His hands were now balled up into fists at his sides, but the intensity in his gaze never faltered. 

Ryuu didn't say anything. He felt like a total ass for misreading the situation and upsetting his best friend. 

Noya exhaled and continued, a little weary, “Ryuu, he just fucking gave up, and then he left. He walked out on the team, Ryuu. He's played with us for the past year and he just fucking walked away from us. How the hell can he do that? What a fucking loser. But we need him, he's the tallest player we've got.” 

Ryuu cut in at that, “Actually....”

Noya startled out of his train of thought and looked up at Ryuu. “Huh?” 

“We've got a guy who's nearly 190 now. And you know that King of the Court Guy? Him too. And this other kid, my god can he jump! Noya, we've got great first years, It's going to be okay,” Ryuu said. 

Noya's eyes narrowed as he assessed his friend, “So what? We just give up and let him walk away? He's part of the team, Ryuu!! I just....I can't take it if we lose our teammates because I'm not good enough.” 

Ryuu's face softened, “Noya...” He took a deep breath in and continued, “We can't make him stay if he doesn't want to. And....and you should know...I...I'm never going to walk away from that team, not from you either.” A soft pink glow was creeping up Ryuu's neck as he tried to ignore how cheesy his words were. Finally he just reached over and put his arm firmly around Noya's shoulders and pulled him into his side in a half hug. 

It wasn't long before Ryuu could feel Noya shaking a bit under his arm and a sniffle followed shortly after. Shit. He made Noya cry. His breath caught in his throat while his heart pounded. He didn't want to say anything to make it worse. He finally settled on, “Noya-san, you're amazing. Don't ever let anybody make you feel like you aren't.” 

Noya's shaking and sniffling slowly stopped and they sat in silence again, Ryuu's arm still slung around Noya. Finally Noya looked over at Ryuu with his wide eyes and said, “Thanks. It was still my fault though, so I feel awful. You seriously have to get him back, Ryuu.” 

Ryuu's eyes narrowed as his looked at his best friend. “Noya-san. It's really not my place. I'm sorry. But for the record, it was a team loss. We played as a team and we lost as a team. It wasn't down to just you guys, we all made mistakes.” He paused and then put a scowl on his face, “And if you don't fucking stop wallowing in it I'm going to beat the ever-loving shit out of you! Hear me?!” He pulled his arm away from Noya and instead dug his fingers into the front of Noya's shirt and lifted him up off the ground a little bit. 

Noya's eyes went wide, but it was only a second before the smile was back on his face. He let Ryuu slowly shake him by his shirt while his arms swung limply back and forth. He laughed and let out, “Thanks, Ryuu. You sure know how to make a guy feel loved.” 

Ryuu's scowl broke into a smile and he unceremoniously dropped Noya back down next to him. “No problem, man. What are friends for, right?” 

Noya leaned back against the side of the bed and sighed, “Right.”

Ryuu settled in next to him and leaned back as well. It only took a second and then Noya's head was resting on his shoulder. A faint smile crossed Ryuu's lips and he whispered, “Noya-san?” He didn't get a response. He leaned his head over on top of Noya's and closed his eyes. “Night, Noya.” And like that they both drifted off sitting on the floor, with the lights still on. 

~~

Ryuu was stretched out on his bed laying on his stomach and trying to play one of Saeko's games on the PSP he had borrowed from her and failing miserably. He just died again and threw the thing down in frustration when he heard his phone buzz. He grabbed it and opened “1 new message from: “NOYA!!!-san!” 

He couldn't help but smile when he read the message just saying “RYUU!!” He rolled over onto his back and held his phone above his face as he texted back the only acceptable response - “NOYA-SAN!!” He set his phone down on his forehead and stretched his arms out before letting them fall down at his sides. His phone buzzed again. 

This time the message read, “RYUU!!” Again. So it had to be the only acceptable response again. Ryuu typed out “NOYA-SAN!!” and hit send. Ryuu had a pretty good idea where this was going. Usually Noya's random texts like this were him fishing for an invite to come over to the Tanaka's house. 

His suspicions were confirmed when the next message he got read “wut u doin?” And there it is. Ryuu responded with his standard “nmu?” that he used whenever he knew Noya was fishing. He'd literally drop whatever he was doing to have Noya come over and visit in times like these. He knew Noya enough to know something wasn't quite right if he was trying to hint that he wanted to come visit. 

So Ryuu invited him over. The last text he got informed him that Noya-san was “omw.” Which meant Ryuu only had about 15 minutes to finish what he'd started. Noya-san had been having an awful month and honestly it was so unnecessary as far as Ryuu was concerned. Well, at least half of it was unnecessary. Noya didn't have to live alone in that big house. Noya didn't need to take care of himself like that. That's what Ryuu and Nee-san were for. 

And they'd made sure Noya knew that, several times. But it just didn't seem to be sinking in. Ryuu knew the problem was likely Noya's pride as a man, but that really didn't matter. Noya was slowly driving himself crazy living alone and he wasn't eating well either. Ryuu was hell bent on stopping it. So he opened his texts with his mom and quickly typed out: 

Me: Hey Mom! Noya's having a rough time right now. I was wondering if it's okay to give him a copy of our house key? Thanks. Love you.

Mom: Ryuu, sweetie. Yuu's having a hard time? I'm sorry to hear that. Of course he is allowed over any time. 

Mom: Actually, Ryuu. Why don't you just remind him that he's more than welcome to just sell the house and move in with us? That offer always stands. He's a good kid. You are too, sweetie. I'm glad you're looking out for him. 

Me: I'll give him a key. Thanks Mom. 

Mom: I love you, sweetie.

Ryuu got up from his bed and then grabbed his wallet off his nightstand. He put his wallet and phone in his pockets and then headed over to Saeko's bedroom. He could hear AC/DC blaring through the door. So he knocked hard. The music stopped suddenly and then the door flew open and Saeko was standing there leaning against the frame. 

“What?” 

“Hey, Nee-san. I'm gonna give Noya-san a key to the house.” Ryuu looked his sister in the eye as he explained. 

Saeko smiled, “Yuu's having it rough, ain't he?” 

Ryuu let out a small breath of relief. Of course Nee-san noticed too. “Yeah, there's shit with the club and school,” he said. 

Saeko's smile turned into a grin and she reached out and gently punched Ryuu's shoulder, “Go bring him home, Ryuu.” 

Ryuu just nodded and took off down the stairs.

Saeko watched his back as he walked away and mumbled, “about damn time.” She heard the front door slam shut and then retreated back into her sanctuary of rock.

~~

Me: RYUU!! 

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : NOYA-SAN!!

Me: RYUU!! 

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : NOYA-SAN!!

Me: wut u doin?

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : nmu? 

Me: supposed to be studying

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : u wanna come over?

Me: OMW!!!

Noya tossed his phone down on the bed next to him and threw his arm over his face. He knew it was a cheap grab for attention, but it worked, so at least he had that going for him. He was crawling out of his skin in the house and he still wasn't allowed to go to volleyball practice so he was really missing everybody. 

He sighed and then sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He grabbed his bag and threw a few things in it and took off down the stairs and out the door and on his way to the Tanaka house. 

He reached the door and knocked quickly 3 times before pushing it open and stepping in. He yelled out “Tadaima!” and quickly slipped his shoes off and slippers on. He made is way down the hall in search of Ryuu because he hadn't gotten an answer. He wasn't downstairs so he figured he must be in his bedroom. 

Ryuu wasn't upstairs either though. So he wandered into his bedroom to wait. He was thoroughly confused, but plopped down on Ryuu's bed anyway. Maybe he was still on his way home from volleyball practice or something. 

Noya dug his phone out of his bag and then saw the new message from “Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/” .

Ryuu \\(^ v ^) 入 (^ v ^)/ : going out 2 get snacks brb

Noya closed his phone again and sighed. He grabbed a magazine off Ryuu's nightstand and then proceeded to aimlessly flip through it. It was “Volleyball Monthly” but nothing was interesting enough to catch his attention. Just a bunch of articles about various players to look out for in the coming season and lots of advertisements for things like shoes and knee pads. 

The door to the room opened and Ryuu walked in, slightly out of breath, with a bag of groceries in his hand. He tossed his wallet down on the table and then threw the bag down along with it. He slid the door closed and let out a simple, “Yo.” 

Noya sat up on the bed for a moment before deciding to move to the floor. He slid off the edge of the bed and settled down at the table. He reached back over his head and grabbed the magazine off the bed and started flipping through it again. 

Ryuu walked over and plopped down next to him, leaning back against the bed. “Hey,” he said more as a question than a statement. 

Noya didn't look up from the magazine, “Hm?” he hummed

Ryuu sighed and then started his little speech he had prepared, there was no use fumbling over the words. “Hey, Noya-san? You know you're always welcome here, right?” 

Noya slowly set the magazine down on the table and turned to look at Ryuu. “Huh?” 

“You don't have to go fishing for an invite, you know that, right?” 

Noya averted his eyes quickly and mumbled, “I didn't do that....” 

Ryuu let out a soft laugh, “Suuuuure,” he drawled. The smile on his lips fell away into a serious look as he continued, “I know you better than that, Noya-san. You were fishing for an invite, but I don't care. Nee-san doesn't care. Mom doesn't care. Our home is your home, you know that, right?” 

Noya turned to look at Ryuu, confusion on his face, “I don't understan...”

“Noya. We all know you've got it rough and we all care about you. Mom's never home anyway, but I did text her to ask, and I talked it over with Nee-san too, and well....” he grabbed his wallet off the table and opened it. He pulled out a freshly made key and set it on the table in front of Noya. “We wanted you to have this. You know, in case we're ever not home or something....” 

Noya felt the tears well up in his eyes because as wonderful and loving as this was, it hurt. It hurt a lot. It was like admitting in some ways that he couldn't handle himself. He reached up and rested his hands on the table with the key just out of reach. He balled his hands into fists and choked out, “Thanks.” 

Ryuu was only slightly taken aback. He had expected something like this. For all the brave show Noya put on for the world, the Tanaka's knew he was still just a kid deep down and he had a lot on his plate. He was bound to trip up sometimes. Ryuu gently leaned into Noya and nudged him, “Hey, Noya-san?”

Noya mumbled, “Hmmm?”

Ryuu nudged him with his shoulder again, “You know you're not alone, right?”

Noya looked at him, still fighting back the tears, with so much intensity again that Ryuu felt exposed. “Of course, I know that.” He sighed and looked back down at the key on the table. Something flickered in his eyes and he reached up and ran his sleeve over them to get ride of the tears. Then he gently fell over on his back and landed across Ryuu's lap with his arms flung over his head. “Dummy.” 

Ryuu smiled and gave Noya's head a pat, “Whatever you say, Noya-san. Whatever you say.” 

They just sat in silence like that for quite some time. Noya drifted off to sleep and Ryuu grabbed the magazine off the table and started aimlessly flipping through it. He wasn't going to wake Noya up. He knew that Noya had trouble getting sleep at his own house because the loneliness sort of ate away at him and he didn't like it. Ryuu knew it was why whenever people were around Noya was the first one to fall asleep. He was so tired and when his friends were around him he finally felt like he could sleep. Ryuu wasn't really sure what Noya was afraid of, but that really didn't matter. If Noya slept better with his head on Ryuu's shoulder or his head on Ryuu's lap than he wasn't going to stop him. 

Noya was one of those amazing guys who managed to still keep going despite everything and with so much energy and enthusiasm. Sure he let his temper get the better of him, sure he had all his issues at home. But when you'd see him on the court, he just shone. When you'd see him just able to be himself, unburdened and free, he was really something amazing. And Ryuu, and the Tanaka's, would do absolutely anything in their power to keep him that way. 

Ryuu set the magazine back down and picked up the shiny new key he had made earlier that day. He ever so carefully reached blindly behind him and felt around on his bed for Noya's bag. His fingers found it and he slowly inched it off the bed and down next to him. He opened it and fumbled in it for Noya's keys. He glanced back at Noya to make sure he didn't wake him and then carefully pulled the keys out and slipped the new one onto the ring and then back into the bag. 

He sighed and picked up his magazine again and whispered, “Welcome home, Noya.”


End file.
